1687 Brown Ale | Charter Oak Brewing Co.

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Notes / Commercial Description:
Charter Oak's 1687 Brown Ale (this was the year the legend of the Charter Oak took place, and Wadsworth hid the document in the majestic Oak Tree - later to become know as The Charter Oak) is an American style which is slightly more robust than the traditional English Brown Ale. This beer will be brewed to a dark copper shade and be somewhat sweet and malty with distinctive toasted flavors from both our premium specialty roasted and chocolate malted barley, also allowing for a faint undertone of caramel. This style is lightly hopped for balance and this ale will prove to be a wonderful selection for a sessionable beer. Our medium-bodied, limited bitterness and hop aroma will make this an excellent choice.

Reviews by cruzmissile72:

The first aromas to hit my nose are a nutty smokiness. It pours a lovely deep mahogany color--very dark and rich looking. The smoky nutty flavor comes though really nicely. Mild bitterness. Good mouth feel, not too thin. For me this a very nice brown ale, which is a style I've been trying more of lately. I'll definitely pick it up again as it is a tasty local beer.

Old-school American Brown Ale all the way—hops don’t have to be the only factor to rise up and balance a beer out. The toasted / roasted character does a lot of the balancing here. Very well-put-together beer and different enough to set it apart from the norm. We definitely want to see more from Charter Oak.

Mouthfeel: Sweet with a bitterness in the middle and a slightly less bitter end, light body, moderate-high carbonation

Overall: Was a lot more bitter for the style than I am used to. I found the bitterness to clash and not compliment the sweeter malts. I have a lot of beers I like in this style, so I will be passing on this in the future.

Purchased 6 pack and poured bottle into Lagunitas large mouth glass. Typical brown coloring with 2 finger head. Decent aroma of caramel and bready malt with a faint hint of chocolate. Taste was your standard brown ale-- and this one is solid but unspectacular. Light body with a nice balance. A good first offering.

Brown ales are an under appreciated style in my opinion. Charter Oak's take on the style is for the most part on point. Nice toastiness in the flavor with some hop bitterness in the finish, but not enough to overpower the malt character. Mouthfeel is smooth, almost oat like. The malts cling to/coat the tongue after swallowing, in a pleasant way. Recommended, especially on draft. This might make an interesting choice for a nitro tap line.

A: The beer is a deep brown color, with a large beige head that fades very slowly and leaves a very thick lace on the glass.

S: The aroma contains maple, nuts, caramelized malts and a touch of hops.

T: The taste starts out with some breadiness from a hearty but not too heavy malt character. Then some mildly sweet flavors of maple, caramel and nuts come in. The hops presence is mild and brings a little bit of balance. The after-taste is slightly bready and slightly sweet.

Quick pour into a tulip had a decent brownish white head that fell to a thin cap in no time at all. Nice deep dark mahogany color. Decent biscuit y and toasty smell and taste, but something seems to be a little off in this one. Letting it warm up a little bit made it come out a little more and the best descriptor I can think of is bittersweet chocolate on the back of your tongue.

Just average, but I'm happy to see another CT brewery, so I will definitely give their offerings a chance when I see them.

Into a 20 oz Guinness
Pours medium red.. nice haze. Great retention. Smells of rich malt. I'm not pulling a lot here, except the malts.
Taste is malt.. forward, mid and back. MF is very smooth. Not syrupy, but close. .. a plus.

Overall, this is a very sweet beer, which overpowered any of the hops. It's not bad, just too sweet for me.